Dust Bowl

Really fun atmosphere for bowling, if you’re into that kinda thing. The private lanes are great, but beware they are in no way soundproof and if a teenage girl is having a birthday in the private lane next to you then be prepared to listen to hours of squeals and teenie bop music. Luckily they have a bar and the private rooms have waitstaff assigned to them to make sure you keep your happy face on. The private rooms also have hookups for your phone so you can play music and have TVs so you can watch your sportsballing while you bowl!

This is an awesome retro bowling alley with the same no-​frills technology from the 1950s (yet it’s filled with more modern style touches). The employees were incredibly friendly.
At first, I was bummed that some of the awesome technology (like automatic pin tallying and scorekeeping) was missing, but quickly realized how fun it was to banter over if pins were actually knocked over. Plus, it has a shared kitchen with the restaurant part of the beer garden upstairs.
Though the pricing was a bit more than I would expect for a bowling alley of its type in Oklahoma City (and compared to other places I’ve been). Still cheaper and more fun than going to the movies.

I think I like the idea of dust bowl more than how it actually plays out. Surprisingly and not surprisingly, it seemed to draw an older crowd that actually can remember the seventies and probably consider them the golden years or the glory days, as I would in forty years in a place themed after the 2010s. I wish the menu was more diverse and had healthier options. I felt bullied by the extensive list of tots into getting the nachos, which were alright. The service was a little slow and didn’t feel like I would want to come hang out just to grab a drink. If I didn’t have to wear bowling shoes and operate a bowling bowl, I might’ve opted in for the lanes.

While the interior is fantastic and very retro, the quality and service of the facility is lacking. The lanes are wooden and have apparently been recycled from a closed down facility due to the warped individual boards in the lanes. The lanes are unkempt, overly and improperly oiled, as well as too close together for anyone who has ever played in a real bowling alley. This place is definitely for amateurs who have never bowled.
When I went to play, there was a visible oil slick on the approach to the foul line in which you could see where others had slipped and fallen. We attempted a practice round and all promptly slipped on it and fell HARD, I notified our server of the issue and requested that the approach be cleaned. She came back to inform us that wasn’t possible at this time. I asked for the manager and the gentleman on duty said he would see what he could do to get the issue taken care of.
Our server came back with a small handful of paper towels and attempted to wipe up the excess oil. Have you ever tried wiping up a cooking oil spill with paper towels? Yeah, (insert sarcastic tone) it was just as effective. We tried it, and again promptly slipped and fell due to the slippery surface and imbalance of the center of one’s gravity caused by the weight of the ball during the swing. I asked if they could send someone with a mop and bucket but was told that it wasn’t available?!?
Wait, WHAAAT!!! You would think an establishment that serves alcoholic beverages to the general public would have one or two of those things (mop, bucket, soap, water) handy for the occasional spill, Right? Not to mention the fact of keeping the restrooms sanitary. Isn’t their a Health Dept. city code that says public restrooms must be cleaned a certain number of times throughout the business day? Ewww, just EW! I won’t EVER be using their «facilities» again…
The list of inadequacies and professionalism we experienced that night is more lengthy and we truly should have requested a refund for the amount of time waiting on the staff to correct a dangerous/​injurious situation that took away from our paid bowling time. This place is simply NOT worth the hype.

A few friends and myself stopped by here while out for the night. The atmosphere was very unique and had a cool vibe. Unfortunately our waitress was extremely rude and actually ridiculed me over the tip I gave her on our first round of drinks. I had planned on giving her a larger tip on our second round to make up the difference because I given her the rest of my cash before I switch to my card. Needless to say we left without tipping! Won’t be stopping by here again! Only reason i gave it 2 stars was because of the neat atmosphere.

Too bad I can’t give a negative star review we waited for 20 minutes while the bartender sat and talked

We went to Dust Bowl for the first time last night after visiting Fassler Hall, which is upstairs. This place is incredible! There’s been so much attention to detail trying to recreate the 1970’s and it turned out spectacular. There is no electronic scoring which is so much more fun for everyone. They have a large, well-​stocked bar so being thirsty was never an issue. They also have a pool table and video games for anyone not bowling. Although we didn’t use a private room, they are available for rent at extremely reasonable prices. It was perfect for the group because after we finished our game, we went right back upstairs to Fassler Hall and continued our evening in Midtown.

This is an absolutely wonderful addition to Oklahoma City and to Midtown. Since I love the one in Tulsa, I knew I was going to love this one, I just had no idea how much I would love it. Perfectly mid-​century, such homage to the Dude, it just makes your Lebowski loving heart soar.
I rented the private room for an event. It was expensive, but it came with shoe rentals and it was worth it to me to have the private room. It provided us with the perfect opportunity to be together as a little group, and be able to visit amongst ourselves. We had a nice little crew and everyone seemed to really enjoy the privacy. I would definitely do this again for a special birthday party or event, especially a guy’s birthday — bowling, beers and brats!
I love that there is not electronic scoring. It really is so fun to score your own, and most of all, there is no pressure to play in sequence, which is awesome. You can just play — play a game if you want, or just bowl for the fun of it. You don’t have to feel like you can’t start a new game, just because your time is almost up, just keep on bowling. I hadn’t realized what a fun thing this would be.
The drinks were great, and this happy hour menu is killer. If you haven’t been yet, it’s high time!

Dust Bowl is a lot of fun. When you first walk in you are taken to a whole different era… Everything looks like the 70s and it’s pretty awesome. They did a great job of creating a theme for this environment.
Dust Bowl has plenty of different shoe sizes and they are really cool about switching sizes… Which I definitely needed to do. They have a great selection of bowling balls as well.
Dust bowl has a full bar and really good food… Not your normal bowling alley food. You will want to come back just because of the food.
The only minor bummer is that you have to keep your own score but it goes with the whole theme so I get it… I just don’t know how to keep score for bowling. FYI they do have directions for you.
I am positive you will love this place. Check it out!

This was my second bad experience here. There was a private party from 5−10pm, which is normal. But we were told (along with several others) that they weren’t taking reservations past 10pm. So we waited until 10, were one of the first in, just to be told that we couldn’t bowl until 1130 due to reservations. We decided to stick it out, only to be told that it would then be 1215 before we could bowl because «someone made the decision to allow more reservations». Service was awesome once we actually GOT to bowl, and the vibe is great (despite the overcrowd of bros) but there needs to be more consistency. The dust bowl and fassler’s in tulsa are way better. okc location needs to get it together.

This is a much better bar than bowling alley. If you bowl at all you know the best way to hurt yourself is to get your shoes wet just before stepping onto the hardwoods. Here you have no choice, they serve your food and drink exactly where you are expected to walk to bowl. There is no way around it. Not to mention, if you are bowling 2 lanes it is customary to switch lanes and here you have to walk all the way out and back around the lounge area to switch, again stepping in whatever food or drink has fallen to the floor. This place will last as long as it takes for someone to get really hurt and then the ensuing lawsuit will shut them down. Now, if you are looking to get drunk and they can blame your falling on that, then you’ll have a ball. It is an awful place to bowl and a great place to drink. They also charge sales tax on bowling, who does that?

I have been to Dust Bowl in Tulsa, and call me biased, but I might like the OKC location better. ;) We went on a Monday night so it wasn’t busy at all, but I can imagine it is a really fun time on a weekend bustling with people. It’s old school bowling where you keep your own score (luckily, there are instructions on the score card). It’s also rent by the hour, not by the game, which has its pros and cons. We liked it because we bowled a game and then had about 10 minutes left, so we just goofed off and had a granny bowl competition. It makes it easy to practice if you want to beforehand without restrictions on the computer keeping track.
I am only docking Dust Bowl a star because of the drink I ordered. Their cocktail menu looked fabulous — lots of fun, unique drinks. I ordered a Dreamsicle, which I believe had banana liquor, orange liquor, vodka and cream… it tasted like water and cream with a slight kick. It was odd because it had a strong banana scent that I liked, but the drink itself had pretty much no flavor. I stuck with beer from then on out. Having said that, someone in my group got the nutty Caucasian cocktail and really enjoyed it, so I think I just ordered the wrong thing.
All in all, lots of fun. Good date night, good night out with friends, whatever. Great addition to midtown!

This place is so fun. Affordable group outing especially on a weeknight. You pay by the hour plus any food/​drinks you order from your waiter who comes to your lane. Very comfortable atmosphere. Doing retro right. Really happy to have an alternative to the normal bowling alley which is usually dirty and loud. After a certain time it becomes 21+ which is nice for an adult outing. Will go back soon. Only problem is parking, but that’s midtown!

What could be better than a retro bowling alley?! You have to get accustomed to scoring yourself, but that’s part of what makes Dust Bowl great. Plus, you can keep your scorecard if you’d like to! Dust Bowl shares a kitchen with Fassler Hall, but they have their own menu. If you like tater tots, you will fall in love because they have loads of loaded tots. See what I did there?
They also have private lanes you can reserve that are just to the left of the public lanes. It can be two rooms of two lanes each or one room with four lanes. Their bartenders/​servers take your order at the lanes so you don’t even have to go up to the bar if you don’t want to. I love the 70s atmosphere and Dust Bowl is a perfect addition to Midtown!

Bowling, beer, food, and fun!
Dust Bowl and Fassler Hall are a great new addition to Midtown OKC. If you want to bowl I suggest reserving a spot. They have ten lanes and on weekends the lanes are all usually booked.
Everyday, except for Saturday (noon-​4pm) and Sunday, lanes are $ 30/​hr.
Saturday (noon-​4pm) and Sunday, lanes are $ 25/​hr.
Shoe rentals-​$ 3.50
Fassler Hall is upstairs from Dust Bowl. You can order food and drinks and bring it downstairs if you are bowling. There is also an open bar and small menu that Dust Bowl offers, their special creation of tots are delicious.
This place is a great hangout spot and they are open till 02:00 AM!
**At Fassler– Sunday-​Thursday: sausages are ½ off from 10:00 PM –01:00 AM**

Already my favorite bowling alley in the city. Seriously, every time I go to Dust Bowl, I expect to see the Dude and Walter Sobchak on one of the lanes. I really dig the 70s vibe and low key atmosphere.
The service at Dust Bowl has been fantastic on all of my visits. The servers have all been extremely polite and have never let me return to an empty glass after one of my gutterballs.
I also think the pricing is extremely fair. In fact, I prefer paying for the hourly rate, more so than paying by the game. If I’m ever in the mood to bowl, I will definitely hit up Dust Bowl.

Manually scored bowling is a lot of fun and I highly recommend this place for it. I’m pretty sure there’s no other place in OKC that has it. Manually scoring gets you more involved and the games move faster. There’s also no annoying screen hanging above the lanes. There are instructions at the bottom of each sheet and you can keep the sheet with you after for bragging rights.
There are 12 lanes and the place has a retro Mad Men ish theme that makes for a fun day or night out with friends and family. There are gutter guards and ball assists for the little ones. The seats in each two lane section are comfy and are set up for people to be more social. There’s also tables behind the lane seats for anyone who isn’t playing to hang out.
There is a private room with 4 lanes. I forgot the rates though. I think 100 an hour?
You get a waiter that can serve anything from a full bar as well as snacks. I haven’t had anything to eat yet but the items on the menu sound great.
Three reasons why I docked a star:
1. The menu has a section called «Super Premium Longnecks» that is made up of just low point domestics (Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Light, etc.). Not sure if this is supposed to be a joke.
2. Played there last week and our lane had three instances of mechanical issues. The first two times we just hit the reset button and it was ok. The third time our lane didn’t do anything and the staff went to work fixing it. However, we sat around for around 10 minutes which meant less playing time. We weren’t compensated in any way unless I missed something.
3. The big space by the two arcade games seem to be a waste. There’s a ledge that borders the walls for people to put drinks on. I can see it being useful if this place gets so busy that people hang out there though.
Hourly rates of 25, 30, 35 dollars do not include shoe rentals. I think those were 3.50.
Come here for a family outing or a night out with friends. Fassler Hall is just upstairs and you can go there before or after bowling, or both. It’s great to see midtown becoming more of a hangout spot with other bars and restaurants in walking distance.
BTW, if you score over 300 you did something wrong :)

Midtowns newest addition #bowling alley & rooftop and lounge garden! Its Super cool! :-). The décor is modern, but does have that 70’s theme, but clean and hip.
Oh rates on the weekend for a lane are $ 25 per hour or $ 30 per hour. There is full bar! It’s crazy packed they stay open until 2am on the weekend. Open @11am on Saturdays & Sundays. You can book a party which I think would be something cool to do with friends. You can check out the menu and other info at their website.